art and code (1/3)

preface

This is the first of three posts about art and code, specifically about the similarities in chronological flow/process.

These are subjective views/opinions/not facts and are from the perspective of a novice programmer and visual artist.

This topic deserves a much longer extrapolation and could easily become a book. These posts will be fairly concise.

This preface will appear before each post in the series.

I am passionate about this topic and believe there are far more similarities than differences in artistic and technical pursuits. I am, overall, at a loss as to why the two generally are held up in contrast to each other.

beginning

When one sits down to make art or code, in the beginning, there can be inspiration first and preparation after. Or, if you are very disciplined, then there may be a dedicated time for sitting down and doing something, after which inspiration may occur. Or not at all. The act of preparation and starting something may be enough.

Because creativity is non-linear, I will touch on both flows. Inspiration first, preparation next; and preparation first, inspiration next (or not at all).

First, I will define each phase (inspiration, preparation).

inspiration

This is, in my experience, the most addictive part of the creative process in both art and code. It appears in many forms:

an idea on a spectrum of vague-to-fully-formed

a problem or problems I want to solve

something I want to communicate

a technique or practical concept I want to practice

a whim

a capricious urge

numerous fancies

The nature of this inspiration affects the momentum with which the project starts. Is there a driving urge to just “get it out”? Is it a lazy, slow unfolding expression of a nebulous concept? Does it feel like something, unless you get it out right now, will dissolve into nothingness? Or is it something that will hang around and nag you until you make it?

The way inspiration arrives can greatly affect preparation.

preparation

the environment

room | computer

easel | text editor

blank surface | empty file(s)

brushes, paints, palette | languages, paradigms, toolchain

While it’s important to understand the tools at hand in both art and code, I’ve spent way too long in this part of the project, rearranging and putzing around. “Are these the right paints to use?” “Is this the right file naming convention?”

This part of the process is a true danger zone/black hole. While it’s important to make intentional decisions based on evidence and objective criteria, it’s far too easy to become prematurely detail-driven. It’s also far too easy, if inspiration is bearing down like a bullet train, to rush through this part of the process; if that happens, the environment may sabotage execution.

Balance, here, as with all things.

ideation

I nest ideation under preparation because I believe that it is an important part of the preparation process. Some may argue that it is really part of the final project.

This is when I actively create collateral in the process of preparing to work on the final project. Examples of collateral:

inspiration->preparation

Person furiously works to turn idea into reality, burning the midnight oil in the process. 🌙

Person magically births the idea, fully realized, in the world. 👶

Person moves on to the next inspiration.

…

Ain’t nobody got enough midnight oil for that.

But really, that’s not how it works all the time, at least for me. It’s great when it happens that way, and about a third of the time, that is what happens.

Usually when this happens, I feel like the idea has a timer on it. I have to bring it into the world before it fades. So, in a way, this is an inconvenient and unreliable means of creating something.

It’s actually much easier to have the following flow…

preparation->inspiration (optional)

Sitting down to do something, anything, is often the most difficult part of the process with art and code. Finding the time, building it into my schedule, and creating a habit (ahem, #100daysofcode).

Oftentimes, I sit down to do something, without planning what that is, and a very faint spark of interest turns into something I love and am proud of. The latest example of this particular flow is my Breathe project. It started as an experiment with CSS loaders, and ended in a tool I actually use and invested a lot of time in.

From my experience, this is a vastly underrated creative sequence. Preparation can lead to inspiration, and often does, for me anyways.

Don’t believe me? This is what Edith Wharton has to say about it:

Many people assume that the artist receives, at the outset of his career, the mysterious sealed orders known as “inspiration,” and has only to let that sovereign impulse carry him where it will. Inspiration does indeed come at the outset to every creator, but it comes most often as an infant, helpless, stumbling, inarticulate, to be taught and guided; and the beginner, during this time of training his gift, is as likely to misuse it as a young parent to make mistakes in teaching his first child.

At Pixar, protection means populating story meetings with idea protectors, people who understand the difficult, ephemeral process of developing the new. It means supporting our people, because we know that the best ideas emerge when we’ve made it safe to work through problems.